The Nintendo Switch – My new BFF (How I f*cked up)

Let me tell you, I’m not a fan of humble pie. I don’t like to eat my words, either. Admitting I was wrong isn’t a speciality. Today I feel I must. And this article is me doing just that.

4 weeks prior to launching the Nintendo Switch in January 2017, I released a video on our YouTube channel entitled “The Great Nintendo Switch Nope!” in which I bad-mouthed Nintendo’s forthcoming system and their many odd business decisions.

I said I was dubious about the hardware specs having been kept a secret, the line-up of games announced, the 3rd party developer roster, the paid for subscription model (which, please note – as of Jan 2017 was meant to have included SNES games too, it still does not – but that’s an issue for another day) and the price of the console and bits and pieces to get you up and running (the console, a game, a pro controller and a case all setting you back over £400).I clearly stated I’d not be pre-ordering a Switch, but I would be buying one. Well, exactly two years have passed since I made that video, so I thought it would be fun to revisit those thoughts and see just how wrong (or right) I was.

Straight out of the gate I want to tell you, the Nintendo Switch is my current favourite gaming device. I have a PlayStation 4, I have an Xbox One, I have a very powerful and up-to-date gaming PC, I have all the mini consoles and I have a multitude of other gaming devices, such as a GPD XD, a Raspberry Pi (with RetroPie), a GPD Win and most mainstream and a fair few more obscure systems besides. The Nintendo Switch is my favourite gaming device as of exactly a month and a half ago in December 2018. I’ve owned my Nintendo Switch since January 2017. I kept my word. I didn’t pre-order. Mark here at TGS pre-ordered several, thinking there would be stock shortage, as so often is the case with Nintendo products. I bought one of his the week of launch at face value.

As I sit here and write these thoughts I can very clearly hear Mark saying “I told you so” in relation to him reading this article – for the very same reason I mention at the very start of my Nintendo Nope video. Mark would buy a turd if it had the Nintendo Seal of Quality on it. The reason I am in love with my Switch is all because of Mark. Not because he pestered me into loving it. Not because it’s all he ever talks about. Not because it’s all he ever streams on our live streams. In fact, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever actually seen Mark streaming his Switch. Nor does he really go on about it too much. He’s still a huge Nintendo fan, but more recently he’s actually started bad-mouthing certain practices of theirs, to a degree I’ve never seen from him.The reason Mark is to blame for my Nintendo Switch love is one simple sentence about 6 months ago – “Remember to take your Switch with you. It’s going to be a long day“.

I travel loads for work. Just back in September I was over in Sydney, Australia. Flight time: 23hrs each way (inc a painful 7 hour layover in Singapore). Plenty of Nintendo Switch time. I took my Switch. I played it on the outbound and home legs.I’d not played my Switch too much up until that point, having been devastated with not enjoying either Breath of the Wild or Mario Odyssey (If you fancy hearing my moans about either of those games, either drop me a tweet, or catch me on a livestream, my ranting on these games is too long to go into right now). Having blown off a literal layer of dust on my Switch I got stuck into Azure Reflections, a fantastic shmup. I enjoyed this, but not to any degree that I thought the Switch was the best thing since sliced bread. When I was in Australia I bought a Switch cart – South Park: The Fractured But Whole. I played about 4 hours of this on the return flight to London. Again, very enjoyable, but not the cup of tea I craved. Back went the Switch, into its dock – where it would stay until exactly the 13th of December 2018.

“Remember to take your Switch with you. It’s going to be a long day“. I heard this as I headed out the door with a bag packed with portable battery, Lucozade, Dextro energy tablets, massage oil, a huge rubber ball, an iPad heaving with films, a portable speaker, an iPod, some essential oils, some jaffa cakes, a couple of pairs of pants and some new socks. Grabbing my Switch, my wife and I headed to the Royal Free hospital in North London. It was December 13th 2018. It was time for my wife to give birth to our child.

In hospital the birthing process took about 3 days for baby to arrive. This was due to a number of factors, all of which far too gory and unnecessary for this piece, but just know, I was there throughout and my bed was an armchair. By about 2am on the first night I’d finally run out of people to WhatsApp and magazines to read, so I delved into my bag of goodies for my Nintendo Switch. I had nothing on it I fancied playing so I visited the store. The Royal Free has wifi, so I was good to go. I bought Ikaruga. Another shmup. The Switch does shmups very well and there isn’t really a better one than Ikaruga. I then bought the Archives version of Donkey Kong. Then Sonic. Then Windjammers, Blazing Star, Shikhondo, Resident EvilRevelations and Puyo Puyo Tetris. I’d gone mad with nostalgia. I’d realised that the Switch is the perfect platform to play classic games. So what if it isn’t the most powerful system, it can play games I love. I can play them whilst slumped in an armchair at 4am in a room full of women who are in agony. I bought Gunbird, R-Type Dimensions & Pang Adventures. My thirst for classic franchises has carried on. I signed up to the Nintendo Online Service. I now have over 30 NES titles. I played Ninja Gaiden & Dr. Mario way into the early hours, exclaiming “FUUUCCCKK” multiple times – which ironically was how I ended up in this room in the first place.

Fast forward several days and it’s dawned on me. I am a father now. Baby takes up a lot of time. Baby needs me, quite a lot more than I thought was possible. Gaming instances have become fleeting and far between. I’ve realised that now more than ever is when the Switch will shine. I keep my Switch docked, therefore charging, all the time. It’s hooked up so it plays through my PC monitor via an AverMedia capture card. This means that, because my PC is always on, if I get a few minutes to myself, I’ll no doubt be on my PC, checking e-mails or trying to work on a YouTube video, but I might just fancy some fullscreen gaming. I turn on the Switch and within seconds I’m up and running. I’m blasting ships in R-Type or looking for the long straight piece in PuyoPuyo Tetris, or hunting for that last Yoshi coin on a level long since completed in Super Mario U Deluxe. The Switch allows me to console game in seconds and flick between all the games I love. If I hear baby stir, I can undock the console and sit in the same room as baby, continuing my game, seamlessly. It’s a dream come true. Half the time baby falls back asleep within a couple of minutes. I can carry on in handheld mode or just slap it back in the dock and go full screen. It is joyful.

My 2019 most anticipated games outlook would have been filled with the likes of the huge triple A titles, had you asked me a few months ago, but now I more often than not get overly excited when hearing about the next classic game to be heading to Switch. Most recently it was the news of GRID Autosport which absolutely floored me. This is one of my most beloved games ever, let alone beloved racing games.

I guess pre-Switch, I was expecting a console which doubled as a handheld. On par with the Xbox One, to play huge titles by Activision and Ubisoft, which, if charging for an online service, should have an offering fitting with on ongoing financial outlay. What I got, was a handheld, which doubled as a console, on par with.. well, nothing really, which charges for a service I didn’t know I wanted, but am quite happy to keep paying for as I love the nostalgia.

Nintendo has a crafty way of getting you to pay for things you already own. They’ve done it time and time again with the Virtual Console – I bought the games originally on the NES, then on SNES compendiums, then DS, Wii, 3DS, now Switch, but this time, I don’t mind nearly as much, because they are making me buy 3rd party titles. If they had a Virtual Console on Switch I’d 100% be spending a fortune on Nintendo games I already own, but for a reason no one is really sure of, other than those crazy people at Nintendo HQ, Virtual Console just isn’t coming.

In short, I never expected to love the Switch. I knew it’d have that Nintendo charm. I thought I knew I’d love the first party titles. In fairness, I don’t love the first party titles this generation (I was gifted Smash this Christmas, I’ve pumped dozens of hours into that, and still don’t get the hype). Yet, even without the first party love I expected to give, it still has that mystical Nintendo wonder about it. I’m playing those third party gems I’ve loved on systems of yesteryear. I’m playing indie smash hits from the last five years. I’m playing arcade oddities I’ve only read about in gaming history books. And I’m doing all of this on the toilet, or on a screen – be it a PC monitor or my 49″ 4K, or on the commute to a far-flung land.

I love my Switch. I’m sorry I doubted it. I’m sorry I left it for the best part of a year and a half in its dock, collecting dust. I’m sorry I paid £50 for Mario Odyssey, when I could have got 5 to 10 timeless classics I’d only played in the retro zone’s of various gaming expos. I’m sorry I thought the 3rd party developer support was likely to be poor. What I’m not sorry for, is actually taking Mark’s advice, probably for the first time in the 20 or so years we’ve known each other.